Kidman Shaping In The US

I shape boards that I’m interested in riding. Be it channel bottoms, single fins, traditional fish or prototypes that are combinations of these designs.

I believe in customizing equipment for the individual. I grew up with access to this kind of one-on- one experience, for me it has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the surfing journey. I’d like to continue to make that experience available for other surfers.
 

It seems that if you're US based, there's a window where you can get a board shaped by Andrew Kidman without the hassle of retrieving it or shipping it from Australia. The lad is going to be making a stop in New York during October, and plans on shaping a very limited number of boards while he's there. To get the details, just email nachtville@gmail.com. It's a pretty good excuse to order up a new board......

Kustom Kulture

One for those in So-Cal- this show is up at the Huntington Beach Art Center until the end of the month, the 20th anniversary revisit of the original which was undoubtedly a game-changer for art. This Saturday the 24th at 7pm there's a panel discussion featuring Stecyk, Paul Frank, Robert Williams and D.E. Hardy amongst others which could definitely be worth a look.

Surfboards Pt. 8- Jon Wegener

I've had the joy of doing a few of these 'surfboard shows' in my time, and often in the company of Jon. He's a lovely fellow with the patience of a saint who never once lost his temper after hours of guys in Aloha shirts and corpo boardshorts staring slack-jawed at his alaias and saying 'you can't really stand up on these can you?'. He builds a lovely wood finless slider, he builds a lovely nearly finless slider (the Bluegill in the middle there is still a board I want) and he builds a lovely 'standard' board, usually out of biofoam. The guy is a champion.

Back At It

I've been in Toronto (a very lovely city) the past week doing things that aren't surfboards.

Surfboards Pt. 7- Rob Royal

Rob's based, for a while at least, in Florida. He's been making some really interesting boards lately. Lovely clean shapes with the 'shorter and wider' ethos showing through, bit of asymmetry when he feels so inclined, and a lot of twinzers. He's a vocal proponent of both new materials and the sidecut concept too- the man knows his stuff.

Surfboards Pt. 6- Erle Pedersen

What I love is that you have a lot of the things that interest me in surfboard design going on here- channels, asymmetry, experimental fins- but it's all taken to such mad levels. Good old Erle, we need these guys out there exploring new frontiers. That's his website address watermarked on the photos, check it out. And according to one who knows, the answer is 'fast and tracky'

Surfboards Pt. 5- Mick Mackie

The Ulladulla output is looking good- some very clean & elegant lines happening with these boards.

Surfboards Pt. 4- Jeff Ho

Good karma? I'm not sure what helped this along but it's here. 6'2", thick, wide and feels like a winner.

Surfboards Pt. 3- Mark Rabbidge

There's a shot of one of Mark Rabbidge's finless extravaganzas a few posts back, but now we've got some first hand feedback. Top notch Ulladulla photographer Dean Dampney has been working with Mark on the pictured board, and here's a report:

".....I’ve been trying to replicate the slide and speed of the alaia, so Mark generously agreed to go back to the drawing board and see what he could come up with.
The board pictured below is the result. Looked unreal but I couldn’t get my head around how I was going to find enough edge or bite to come off the bottom. In my first test drive, my instincts were right and although the speed, slide and spin was all there, the control and bite off the bottom was not. Again back to the drawing board….
Mark put a 3omm high centre keel between the double concave at the tail, and two 10mm keels on each rail. The result…
Welcome The Slidrofoil! I’m absolutely blown away by the likeness this board holds to the alaia in every department, with one exception, and that’s the floatation. In surf that I’ve put in the hard yards and laboured away paddling the alaia around the lineup, I’m now paddling around with ease. Basically I’m wondering if the day will ever come again that I resort back to the timber plank.
Check out Marks site and give him a call if you’re interested in this stuff: http://www.markrabbidge.com/"

Surfboards Pt. 2- Kneeboards by Chris Cockett

I found these really quite amazing creations at a highly recommended kneeboard site called Legless.tv. The site itself is completely worth a scroll through, there's some great photos there, but these boards jumped right out at me. One Chris Cockett came up with them, and there's some interesting explanation of what he was aiming for as far as rail curve and flex go. I'm very much a proponent of 'modern' materials in boards, so seeing carbon and kevlar used this well makes me very happy. Chris' ride reports seem to bear out his ideas as working, so this is great stuff all round.

And an update- Chris is apparently in the UK and there's a thread on his boards  on a kneeboard forum here that is totally worth checking out- he's doing some very wild stuff with construction.

Surfboards

Alright, back to pictures of surfboards for a while. To maintain a sort of narrative flow here, these are Parmenters made for the 'Spirit Of Akasha' project Andrew Kidman is working on. There's a blue trimmed MP inspired stub and a yellow trimmed channeled single made expressly for Stephanie Gilmore. You can see more of this over at the Akasha site, and I very seriously suggest taking a look at this, which is some footage shot for the film in Ireland- heavy, heavy water in action and filmed beautifully. You can also visit Andrew's site and get your hands on one of the limited edition books he's done over the last couple of years. Both 'Lost In The Ether' (DVD & book) and 'Single' (based around Steph riding her board) are only available there and are nearly gone.

Dave Parmenter

Awesome. Dave Parmenter has a website up and running called Nowtro. It's a great looking site, and the content is what you'd expect from one of the more considered and literate surfer/shapers out there. There's his writing, there's his boards and there's a link to buy his collection of fiction which I did and I highly recommend. (Although for some reason it's printed in oddly large type. Nice for us older blokes I suppose, but I'm a little way from seeing that badly yet.) Parmenter has quietly laboured away on the frontlines of hand shaping surfboards and brought us the Stub vector and a lot of the widowmakers out there- here's a hero in my eyes. All photos swiped from the site except the one of my clear widow.

Hazan Motorworks

Generally I try to keep this blog surf related, but I'm going to digress a little here. There is a definite link to the surf stuff, which is just a stunning level of craftsmanship and vision. As much as a one of Mick Mackie's boards, or an Ekstrom asym, or a set of Geppy fins is piece of handmade genius, so is this bike. Pretty much entirely handcrafted around the engine from a Royal Enfield Bullet, it's spectacular. Mr. Hazan had some background in boat building too, hence the incredible but doubtlessly uncomfortable ducktail seat.

Mick Waters

Courtesy of Paul Whibley, our SW Australia correspondent and all around lucky bastard, a few snaps of a recent trip over that way. He was accompanied by Byron Bay's all around nice guy, Mick Waters. From the sounds of it (and these images) it was as good a surf trip as you could want. 

As I hope you are aware, Mick is a highly talented friend of the family and auteur of two very fine  independent surf movies, 'Believe' and 'Little Black Wheels'. We will  gladly sell you either or both, $25 each with shipping included. Email info@foamandfunction.com should you be interested.